{"id":6399,"date":"2012-07-27T09:32:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=6399"},"modified":"2012-07-27T09:33:37","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:33:37","slug":"solar-impulse-hb-sia-returns-home-hb-sib-under-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/solar-impulse-hb-sia-returns-home-hb-sib-under-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Impulse HB-SIA Returns Home, HB-SIB Under Construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar Impulse crossed from Toulouse, France to Payerne, Switzerland on July 25, completing an epic intercontinental voyage for the giant solar-powered craft.<\/p>\n

Its itinerary consisted of a flight from the Solar Impulse home base in Payerne, Switzerland to Madrid, Spain, followed by a jump across the Strait of Gibraltar, for the first time linking Europe and Africa by\u00a0solar flight.<\/p>\n

Because of its light wing loading, the airplane is subject to the vagaries of wind and turbulence as the ultralight aircraft it truly is, and was forced to turn back after battling the elements for half a day on its attempt to fly from Rabat, Morocco to Quarzazate, the site of the Moroccan solar agency\u2019s huge desert solar generating site.\u00a0 A second try met with success, although punishing turbulence caused Andre Borschberg to wait for a night landing when the air was relatively cooler and calmer.<\/p>\n

Returning to Rabat, HB-SIA was subject to maintenance and inspections before its return flight to Madrid.\u00a0 After sorting out weather alternatives, the team elected to send the airplane to Toulouse, France, from which it made its return to Payerne.<\/p>\n

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Solar Impulse over the Puy-de-Dome on its way back to Payerne, Switzerland. Photo: Solar Impulse | Jean Revillard<\/p><\/div>\n

With HB-SIA back in its hangar, the team can look forward to completing its bigger brother, HB-SIB \u2013 a similar aircraft that will demonstrate new construction techniques, advances in electronic stability\u00a0assistance, and improvements in solar cells, among other innovations.<\/p>\n

HB-SIB will be 227 feet in span, compared to the 204 feet of the first prototype.\u00a0 To help keep weight down, the craft will have a great deal of North Thin Ply Technology\u2019s ultralight carbon fiber cloth <\/a>in its composite layups.\u00a0 Used for yacht sails and masts, hull construction, sporting gear and even Formula 1 cars, the material is incredibly thin and light, weighing around 25 grams per square meter for carbon fiber (about 0.75 ounce per square yard), 50 gsm (1.5 oz.\/sq. yd.) for glass fibers, and 20 gsm (about 0.58 oz.\/sq. yd.) for aramid fibers.\u00a0 The tapes come in pre-impregnated or dry form, and in their lightest, strongest finished form, are laid down by computer-controlled machines that optimize fiber orientation often in multiple layers.\u00a0 This construction was described by North Thin Ply Technology in their December 2011 newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the second solar-powered airplane project got underway, it became obvious to the shipyard and then to the Solar Impulse engineers that the NTPT complexes could offer an extremely valuable weight reduction for the second solar-powered airplane. After an intense research and development program run jointly by Solar Impulse and Decision S. A<\/a>., the North Thin Ply Technology team is now fully involved in\u00a0 manufacturing ultra-thin multi-orientation carbon fiber complexes for HB-SIB\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n